AXE COP Artist Reflects on The Comic Written by His Six-Year-Old Brother

Ethan Nicolle recently discussed the process for Axe Cop, now a Dark Horse publication, and talks about how the issues are written by his six-year-old little brother while he does the artwork.

Malachai Nicolle was five years old when his brother Ethan (age 29 when the series began), came up with the concept to illustrate his brother's ideas and turn them into a webcomic. Axe Cop was born from this process and has since been adapted from the internet into a full fledged Dark Horse comic series.

"He (Malachai) doesn’t realize he is probably the youngest published writer in the industry, and even if he did I don’t think he would get why that is significant. Since most of our writing is done on the phone, I have to wait until he has some inspiration (usually after he has seen a movie or cartoon or has not noticed an update on the site recently).

For the 'Bad Guy Earth' series I actually went and spent an entire month with him writing it in person, and it was all based on a month of actual play time together doing fake car chases in my car, in his room playing with toy dinosaurs and going to the playground. I just kept bringing our narrative back into the playtime. He will say “we need to work, Ethan” but that’s him saying “let’s play”. The word work means play to Malachai. He is learning early why so many people want to be writers and comic artists," said Ethan.

The upcoming 'Bad Guy Earth' miniseries that Ethan mentions will be launched in March, 2011. Darkhorse has released the first graphic novel of Axe Cop on December 22nd, which collects the entire webseries. Ethan described some of the process in which he has to elaborate on his little brother's ideas.

"Malachai leaves so much up to me. Every idea is his, but many of them are so bare. He will say something like 'alien planet' and I have to create what that looks like on that description," said Ethan.

The synopsis for Axe Cop is as follows:

Axe Cop focuses on the adventures of a police officer who prefers to wield an axe in battle. He tends to help people victimized by aliens and often gathers other heroes with him to assist. His most common partner is his sibling, Flute Cop, who undergoes many transformations over the course of the series. For example here's a rundown of what has happened thus far to Flute Cop:

Flute Cop spilled dinosaur blood on himself. turning him into "Dinosaur Soldier". An avocado and Uni-Baby's misplaced horn turned him into Uni-Avocado Soldier. He then wished himself back into Flute Cop, only to transform into Ghost Cop (thanks to a wish granted by Axe Cop). His current form is Drag-Tri-Ghostacops Rex - a Tyrannosaurus rex with Triceratops horns, dragon wings and ghost limbs.

"My family gets it to the extent that any normal person would, but Malachai only gets it in the way a 6 year old gets anything… he has very little to compare it to and he takes it at face value. People tell him it’s a special circumstance, but he is still learning exactly what special is. My guess is that for the most part he thinks this is what happens when you play with your brother and he is a comic artist," said Ethan.